Man dangling from balloon prompts 911 calls

LONGMONT, Colo. — Dan Vinson did, indeed, have a wild ride over Longmont, but not the kind that required the assistance of rescuers.

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In the hour or so that Vinson was in the air dangling from a hot air balloon and filming a promotional video for his workout product, Longmont dispatchers fielded a media phone call and four 911 calls from people who were worried that he needed help.

“I was working out,” Vinson said.

He and his business partner, Dave Hunt, are launching a Kickstarter fundraising campaign for their invention, Monkii Bars, and were filming a video Tuesday showing an extreme use of the product as part of planned promotions. The men founded a company called The Wild Gym, based in Fort Collins. The portable lightweight bars can be used to create makeshift gymnastics-type suspension workouts by threading line over solid objects and through the bars to create hand grips. From there, the bars can be used for pull-ups or other body weight exercises.

On Tuesday morning, Vinson used the Monkii Bars to do more than 30 pull-ups while dangling from the hot air balloon to film a video to promote the project.

“It was hard,” he said, noted that when he pulled up the balloon would dip a bit.

Hunt said they heard people on the ground who were watching them.

“We thought people were cheering us on,” he said. And it is certainly possible that those folks were cheering while others called 911. “Dan is a professional wild man.”

Longmont police released 911 calls to dispatchers from people who saw Vinson and worried about him.

“There is a hot-air balloon on the north end of town and there is a guy hanging from it,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher. “I don't know if he is supposed to be or if he is in trouble.”

Longmont Police Officer Mike Nelson caught up with the balloon and saw Vinson dangling from it before it landed.

From his vantage point, he couldn't tell if Vinson had been pulled from the ground while trying to stabilize the balloon and needed help. He caught up with the crew near Martin Street and Ken Pratt, where the balloon landed around 9:30 a.m.

As more calls came in, dispatchers began to reassure callers that the man they saw was harnessed in.

When officers confirmed to dispatchers that Vinson was filming a promotion, a dispatcher asked if they could put a sign on him reading “I'm OK.”

Hunt and Vinson said they did not consider that anyone would worry that Vinson was in trouble and were surprised at the police attention.

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